Clark Planetarium opened in April 2003 inside The Gateway at 400 West and 100 South in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah. It opened in April 2003, replacing the historic Hansen Planetarium under a grant from the Clark Foundation in cooperation with Salt Lake County. The original Hansen Planetarium opened in 1965 and remained open through 2002, and the Clark has since undergone updates and expansion in 2015-2016 and again in 2023-2024.
During those years their well-known moon rock, on loan from NASA since 1975, was secured off site. Inside this building you'll find the Hansen Dome Theater, a 55-foot (16.8 m) perforated aluminum dome, paired with an IMAX certified big screen theater. The Clark features 10,000 square feet (930 m2) of free exhibits, including Science on a Sphere, NOAA's computer animation globe, and Newton's Daydream, the most ambitious audio-kinetic sculpture ever created by artist George Rhoads.
Listen for the hum of learning, imagine the dome above as a sky to explore, and recall the long arc from the original 1965 Hansen to this 2003 center. That 55-foot dome above you has sparked wonder since 1965, first at the Hansen and now here at the Clark.